This is a joint team comprising of children's physiotherapy and occupational therapy services which provides high quality holistic therapy assessments, treatments, advice and packages of care to babies, children and young people with disabilities, developmental and acquired movement and / or coordination problems. This team also provides assessment on behalf of social services for equipment and adaptations.

The service is delivered in the most appropriate community setting by skilled professional and non-professional therapy staff. They work closely with partner agencies to provide safe coordinated interventions with a child and family centered approach.

Packages of care are designed according to assessed need, to improve function in daily activities and encouraging children and young people to achieve their maximum potential whilst maintaining health and wellbeing. The service was voted by colleagues as a winner of the 2015 Principles of Care Awards.

The service operates in a time limited intervention manner in order to provide an equitable service to all children and keep waiting times for assessment and treatment to a minimum.

Who is it for?

Children and young people will be accepted to the service if they are:

aged 0 – 18 (or 19 if in special school)

registered with a Trafford GP

a Trafford resident (only for home equipment and adaptations referrals)

have one of the following

a specific functional difficulty which is significantly limiting their ability to engage in occupations that may include self-care activities; play / leisure activities; participation in education and where their level of performance is not in line with their cognitive ability

a newly acquired/ condition; being discharged from hospital with acute need or specialised ongoing functional needs

How to use this service

Referral Required?

Yes

Referral Details

Physiotherapy referrals - the child needs to have a Trafford GP

Occupational therapy referrals for home equipment assessment:

This referral can be made by any professional directly working with the child. Please complete Trafford Children’s Therapy Services referral form and send to the department address.

Occupational therapy referrals for home adaptation assessment:

Parents can call the Equipment and Adaptations Advice Line (EAAL) on 08452990798 to make an initial self-referral for minor / major adaptation assessment. The line is open Monday to Friday 09.00-12.00 and Monday and Friday only 13.00-16.00.

Professionals directly working with the child who wish to make a referral for minor / major adaptation are advised to complete the AR2 form and send it to the EAAL line by fax (0161 283 4625) or email : pcn-tr.adminonestop@nhs.net. Please see the link here for details

Occupational Therapy referrals for seating assessment in school / early years setting:

If the child / young person who is being referred for a seating assessment is independently mobile without any complex physical/neurological condition the referrer will need to demonstrate evidence that the school/early years setting has implemented strategies in the Seating : Pre-referral advice for schools and early years setting prior to the referral being accepted. If no improvement is noted after following the advice, please ask the school nurse to complete and send the referral form to our team. Please give details in the referral form which strategies have been tried and why they did not work.

Occupational Therapy referrals for toileting assessment in school/ early years setting:

If the child / young person who is being referred for a toileting assessment is independently mobile without any complex physical/neurological conditions the referral will need to demonstrate evidence that the school/ early years setting has implemented strategies in the Toileting Strategies: Pre-referral advice for schools and early years setting prior to the referral being accepted. If no improvement is noted after following the advice, please ask the school nurse to complete and send the referral form to our team. Please give details in the referral form which strategies have been tried and why they did not work.

This referral can only be made by a medical professional (doctor / physiotherapist / health visitor / nurse / speech therapist etc.). Please complete the team referral form, ask parents to complete the pre-school parent questionnaire and send both the forms to the department address. Please note that the referral will not be progressed to appointment unless the parent questionnaire is received within 4 weeks of medical appointment.

School age children (reception onwards) - referrals for handwriting / motor coordination assessment (in conjunction with school & school nurse)

New Referrals

1. Prior to referral for handwriting difficulties /fine motor or gross motor coordination difficulties complete the motor skills checklist which will highlight the areas of difficulty.

Implement strategies from the fine motor pack and /or from implementing specific task orientated activities from our advice sheets website for a minimum of 12 weeks prior to referral. Please use the Motor skills Progress Record Form at the end of the checklistto document the strategies tried.

2. Following your 12 week trial of the activities if the child shows improvement, continue with the strategies until the child meets the functional level expected.

3. Following your 12 week trial of the activities if the child has not made any progress, please give the completed checklist, Motor skills Progress Record form (at the end of the checklist), teacher questionnaire (primary or secondary) and the parent questionnaire (primary or secondary) to the school nurse who can make a referral to our team by completing the referral form enclosing all the paperwork. Please note all forms need to be submitted without which referrals will not be accepted. Please note that the child’s difficulties must be significant and persistently interfere with functional activities that have not improved with practice.

Review handwriting / motor coordination assessments:

If the child has been seen by our service in the past for these difficulties parents / guardians can self- refer for a telephone consultation. Please call on 0161 912 4495 and say , “I would like to make a self – referral for a review telephone consultation of my child’s fine motor / motor coordination assessment who was previously seen on (date on report)”. Please leave your telephone number and available times for telephone consultation.

Review handwriting / motor coordination assessments appointments will only be offered if following the telephone consultation with the therapist a new functional concern / change in circumstances has been identified.

Referrals from medical professionals for handwriting / motor coordination assessments for over 5s:

Please direct families to the advice sheets website and direct schools to follow the school referral guidelines as above for school based difficulties (such as handwriting) consistently for a minimum of 12 weeks prior to referral.

If there are no difficulties identified in school and parents have implemented the strategies on the advice sheets website for 12 weeks and there has been no improvement a referral can then be made by GP/ consultant paediatrician/ health care professional by completing the referral form, asking parents to complete the parent questionnaire (primary or secondary) and sending to the department address. Please note that the referral will not be progressed to appointment unless the parent questionnaire is received within 4 weeks of medical appointment.

Direct referrals from medical professionals can be received if there are special circumstances / safeguarding concerns.

How accessible is this service?

Facilities

Wheelchair Access

Further Details

Please visit our leaflets website https://www.penninecare.nhs.uk/resources/trafford-childrens-therapy-leaflets/ for strategies to support children with functional difficulties such as ball skills, handwriting, doing/undoing buttons, using cutlery etc. to develop their skills. Specialist Occupational Therapists from Trafford Children’s Therapy department have worked together to develop these strategies which can be used by parents, preschool and school staff.

Last updated date:

13 December 2017

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